23 Bangladeshis held in Tripura for entering India illegally

Government Railway Police personnel arrest them at Agartala railway station

Agartala: At least 23 Bangladeshi nationals, including a tout, were arrested by the security personnel for entering India illegally, officials said here on Sunday.

Officials said that the Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel arrested the Bangladeshi nationals at the Agartala railway station on Saturday night as they were trying to board a train to travel to other Indian States via Guwahati.

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The Bangladeshi nationals, aged between 19 and 40 and residents of Bangladesh’s Chapainawabganj district in Rajshahi Division, told the security personnel that they came to India in search of jobs.

The Rajshahi Division, located in the north-western part of Bangladesh, one of the eight divisions of the country has no border with Tripura but in the recent past many nationals of the region entered Tripura, a senior official said.

Tripura shares an 856 km border with Bangladesh’s Chittagong and Sylhet divisions. A Border Security Force (BSF) spokesman said the paramilitary forces are cracking down heavily on the illegal migration by Bangladeshi nationals and have stepped up the vigil in close coordination with sister agencies in the border area.

Following the direction of Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, the BSF has stepped up its drive against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and all field formations are actively breaking down the nexus of touts in the bordering areas.

Tripura Frontier Inspector General Patel Piyush Purushottam Das said that 95 per cent of the 856-km India-Bangladesh border with Tripura has already been fenced, while fencing work is going on in the remaining 27.5 km.

Over the last two-and-a-half months, more than 150 Bangladeshi nationals and 32 Rohingyas were arrested by the GRP, BSF and Tripura Police from the Agartala railway station and various other places in Tripura after they illegally entered India.

Officials said all the Bangladeshis and Rohingyas illegally entered Tripura to board trains or buses to go to other States in India “in search of jobs”. During the past few weeks, Bangladesh witnessed waves of deadly violence and clashes during the quota reform protests claiming the lives of over 170 people and injuring over a thousand.